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Math Jones

Math Jones

@mathjones.bsky.social

680 followers 530 following 1.1K posts

"Alas, the poet can only say so much. So very much." Leominster, Here(&Now)fordshire, UK. Posting random thoughts on poetry, on mythology, Paganism, Heathenry. Oh, and that also. https://linktr.ee/mathjones

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Math Jones @mathjones.bsky.social · 3d

Thank you, @rhunedhel.bsky.social

As it goes, this was my very first #alliterative poem, & it followed a year of not writing at all, as I disengaged the clutch & changed gear from end-rhyme to head-rhyme.

Then, as is said, 'word followed word'

#PoetrySky #HeathenSky

Paul Deane @rhunedhel.bsky.social · 4d

Here's one of @mathjones.bsky.social's Norse-style poems about the gods of Asgard. Always, the mistletoe is waiting.

alliteration.net/poetry/hoders-song/ #alliterative #poetry #Norse #Viking #skaldic #alliterativeverse #poetrysky

Hoder's Song: An alliterative poem describing a scene from the Poetic Edda

... Our hostess sits, / Loki's daughter, lours at her guests, / the waifs and wanderers, the withered dead ...

alliteration.net

Math Jones @mathjones.bsky.social · 4d

A lot of alliterative verse in here, an array of articles, & not one but two settings out of the skaldic Drottkvæt form

#PoetrySky #AlliterativeVerse

Paul Deane @rhunedhel.bsky.social · 4d

The Fall issue features poems by Peter G. Epps, D.A. Cooper,
@jordanriverwrites.bsky.social Liz Kendall, Joshua Walker,
@frankcoffman.bsky.social, @dgplacenames.bsky.social,
@graywyvern.bsky.social, @mathjones.bsky.social, & Marcus Lindenberg, and articles by Rahul Gupta, myself, & Robert Rickard.

Math Jones @mathjones.bsky.social · 4d

It's also the case that for many (especially search engines) my name evokes numbers, arithmetic, mathematics...

...though, growing up in south London, UK, we always called that, 'Maffs' 🙂

Math Jones @mathjones.bsky.social · 4d

There's an Old English word also, pronounced the same: Mæþ

means, 'measure, degree, proportion; honour, respect & reverence; fitness, what is meet, right & proper; virtue & goodness'

Never used as part of a name, but were you to meet me, I hope you'd find it apt.

(little bit more...

Math Jones @mathjones.bsky.social · 4d

#PaganSky

'Math' is the name of a Welsh king, a wizard-prince of Gwynedd; Math ap Mathonwy, brother of the goddess, Don.

It is said to be a word for 'bear', which is apt for my size & shape.

I chose it as a Pagan name to honour that part of my heritage that is Welsh, British, Celtic.

more...

Math Jones @mathjones.bsky.social · 5d

So you know they were there at the first & will be at the last, & then at the new first again.

Math Jones @mathjones.bsky.social · 5d

#PaganSky #HeathenSky

How do you write a goddess or god? In poetry or prose, how do you do it? So that they retain the intimacy of blood in your veins. So they go between like air into breath into air. So you see them there as tall as the sky, and you are too.

more...

Math Jones @mathjones.bsky.social · 12d

Questioning's an OK place to be, even when it hurts, or is lonely, or is afraid. Plenty of illustrations in all traditions of such moments. Wishing you well.

Math Jones @mathjones.bsky.social · 13d

We can all do it. We do all do it, living 'as if' money was a real thing, 'as if' death wasn't always near, 'as if' that person was better/not better than we..., 'as if' we were not surrounded by something ineffable that wants to answer us back.

4/4

Math Jones @mathjones.bsky.social · 13d

That 'as if...' was central to my Drama training. 'As if... you were drunk.' 'As if... you were in love.'

3/4

Math Jones @mathjones.bsky.social · 13d

You might call it 'faith', but with the connotations 'faith' has, it's something else. It borders imagination; it might be make-believe, the same thing, when acting on stage, that convinces me I'm 'fighting for my life'. Trust is part of it. Troth. Worth-ship...

2/4

Math Jones @mathjones.bsky.social · 13d

It feels a kind of projection, the talking to goddesses, gods, ghosts & others; a kind of talking 'as if' they will hear you. A sending out of self, to be met, somewhere, somehow, somewho. 'Cause at times you feel them answer back.

1/4 #PaganSky #HeathenSky

Math Jones @mathjones.bsky.social · 13d

Was?

I recognise this is a common way of speaking, but I'd be much happier personally if goddesses & gods are spoken of as 'is'. Freyja is strongly linked to cats. Clearly. That hasn't stopped. She hasn't stopped. She is still worshipped, & I'd be thankful if people respected that.

Math Jones @mathjones.bsky.social · 14d

I'm really grateful to you for saying so. Thank you. I'm always glad to chat over these things, discuss questions. I surprise myself. & thank you taking the time to listen. That's very much appreciated too.

Math Jones @mathjones.bsky.social · 16d

A fella here is saying that 'Ive' is a term for 'steep' - so 'Steep Street'? You'd figure it came from Old Norse, but I don't know the exact word it derived from.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=AsEf...

Ghostly Dungeons Of Ivegate & Imprisonment of John Nelson | Bradford

YouTube video by Bradford Through The Lens

www.youtube.com

Reposted by Math Jones

Naomi Baker @drnaomibaker.bsky.social · 21d

Just two weeks until Voices of Thunder is published! If you’re interested in hearing the stories of a dozen radical seventeenth-century women, it can be pre-ordered now ⚡️#earlymodern #womenshistory

Math Jones @mathjones.bsky.social · 21d

There's a word in the OE verse, wræcna, which survives as wretch, & means 'friendless'. Thoughts of being in society are, as you say, definitely part of it.

Math Jones @mathjones.bsky.social · 21d

Your thoughts remind me also of the warnings in Havamal, not to give too much in offerings & such.

Math Jones @mathjones.bsky.social · 21d

I agree with this distinction - sense of feoh / fehu as that which you have plenty of... (based as it is on the generosity of earth, Jord, Gefn & others). I apply that feeling to the poetry I'm given, to share it freely.

Perhaps jokingly, I put gyfu as a law of thermodynamics 🙂

Math Jones @mathjones.bsky.social · 21d

Just to mention, the verse quoted in Old English (Anglo-Saxon, same thing) is for the wyn rune, joy, not gyfu.

Also, feel the translation quoted is not the most accurate, skews it towards an attitude that may not be in the original.

Reposted by Math Jones

Paul Deane @rhunedhel.bsky.social · 23d

The place you'll want to start to learn more about Old English and other alliterative meters is:
alliteration.net/information-pages/resources/

Take a look especially at my "Field Guide to Alliterative Verse" and the article series, "The Natural Poetry of English".

Alliterative Poetry Resources: Field Guide, Metrical Resources, Articles, Bibliographies

A guide for poets and fans describing what alliterative poetry is, how to write it, and how it fits into the literary landscape. It includes

alliteration.net

Math Jones @mathjones.bsky.social · 22d

It's sometimes called 'head-rhyme', as opposed to the 'end-rhyme' we're used to.

I'm taken by how vital it is to some ancient poetics, inc. Welsh, Old English & Old Norse. As much as functional aid to memory as decoration.

I feel it takes us back to hearing & listening, to sound rather than sight.

Math Jones @mathjones.bsky.social · 23d

So much is relative - here, the home of Hel, the place, the goddess, as the name suggests, is & will be hid. But when, or if, we walk silent over that bridge - as I hope there will be much revealed - if it is still so mysterious & masked, what will I make of that?

Math Jones @mathjones.bsky.social · 23d

To say a goddess or god 'was' always jars with me.

Sure, she 'was' believed to be such & such. He 'was' worshipped by so & so.

But, for me now, a goddess, a god, always 'is'.

#PaganSky #HeathenSky

Math Jones @mathjones.bsky.social · 23d

My poem, 'Listen, he whispers' has been put forward by a friend towards the best of the net awards. Which I'm thrilled about.

It's deeply embedded in Norse myth & relates to existential moments we may all be subject to. Would love your thoughts.

#HeathenSky

alliteration.net/poetry/liste...

Listen, He Whispers, a poem in alliterative verse by Math Jones

Why is the thought , / Winging from the edge / Of the known-till-now, / Not a kind one, / But shudders through, / Shakes you awake, / Lands with an ice-flake, / Lends you worry ...

alliteration.net